Method and system for providing directory assistance to erroneous telephone calls via wearable devices

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing directory assistance to erroneous calls via location wearable devices. The method and system includes an intercept system that intercepts erroneous calls from a location aware wearable device and automatically routes them to a directory assistance service. The directory assistance service provides a least one advertisement and a variety of other services to the callers using current caller data and to one or more alternative numbers for the caller based in part on a determined physical location of the location aware wearable network device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-In-Part (CIP) of U.S. applicationSer. No. 13/595,696, filed on Aug. 27, 2012, that issued as U.S. Pat.No. 8,693,664, on Apr. 8, 2014, which is a CIP of U.S. application Ser.No. 12/364,834 filed on Feb. 9, 2009, that issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,254,549 on Aug. 28, 2012, which is a CIP of Ser. No. 11/805,531, filedMay 23, 2007, that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,573,993, on Aug. 11, 2009,which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/064,402, filedon Jul. 10, 2002, that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,227,936, on Jun. 5,2007, the contents of all of which are incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to intercepting erroneoustelephone calls, and more particularly to providing directory assistanceand other services to a caller who makes a telephone call from alocation aware wearable network device to an unavailable or erroneoustelephone number from a wearable device for which a telephony companymay have limited information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telephone systems, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN),often intercept calls attempted by a customer that cannot be completedas dialed for any of a variety of reasons, such as a disconnectedsubscriber, the dialed number being out of service, or the dialed numberbeing reserved for other uses. The telephone system typically directsthe caller to an intercept system and the intercept system may thencommunicate the unavailable status of the dialed number to the caller,via a recorded voice message or sequence of tones transmitted back tothe caller. For example, the intercept system may playback recordinginforming a caller that the number cannot be completed as dialed, thenumber is not serviceable from the caller's area code, the number is notin service, the number is disconnected, that a zero, one, and/or areacode should be dialed when calling the number, and the like. Suchintercept systems are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,337to Cofer and U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,666 to Cobb, et al.

While useful in indicating to the caller that the attempted call cannotbe completed as dialed, a limitation common to conventional interceptsystems is that they typically provide minimal, if any, additionalinformation regarding the status of the dialed number other than it hasbeen disconnected, out-of-order, or otherwise unavailable. For example,when a caller dials a disconnected number, the recorded messagetransmitted to the caller over the telephone network generally includesa variation of the phrase: The number you have dialed has beendisconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and tryagain. This is followed by a disconnection of the call. Accordingly, theresulting message provides the caller little insight as to why thedialed number is unavailable.

To remedy the situation, the caller typically must disconnect, or hangup, from the call and place a second call to a directory assistanceservice (DAS) to obtain additional information regarding the unavailablenumber or to obtain an alternate telephone number, thereby causingconsiderable inconvenience to the caller. Examples of directoryassistance services are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.3,928,724 issued to Byram, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,206 issued toPadden, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,855 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,719,both issued to Daudelin.

Wearable devices are becoming more popular. The calculator watch,introduced in the 1980s, was one of the original wearable devices. A fewother examples includes a Bluetooth headset in a pair of earrings with ahidden microphone, a “Spy Tie” with a color video camera, a “PocketTweet” with a Java application applying a TWITTER text bubble to aperson's shirt with Tweets, ZED-phones stitched headphones into beaniesand headbands allowing riders, snowboarders, drivers and runners to stayconnected, hands-free, etc.

Wearable technology has applications in monitoring and real-timefeedback for athletes as well. Transitioning to night life andentertainment industries electroluminescent shirts have appeared inconcerts SONY developed a “smart wig” This “Smartwig” includes a GlobalPositioning System (GPS), a camera and a laser pointer system andconnects to other devices.

The digital glasses, such as GOOGLE Glass, include prototypes fordigital eyewear with heads up display (HUD) are being developed. The USmilitary also employs headgear with displays for soldiers using atechnology called holographic optics.

Smart watches by SONY, NIKE, SAMSUNG, and others are additionalexamples. ABI Research forecasts about 1.2 million smart watches will beshipped in 2013 due to high penetration of smart phones in many worldmarkets, the wide availability and low cost of MicroElectroMechanicalSystems (MEMS) sensors, energy efficient connectivity technologies suchas Bluetooth 4.0, and a flourishing app ecosystem.

According to ABI Research due to the relative ease of compatibility withsmart phones and other electronic devices, the wearable technologiesmarket will likely spike to about 485 million annual device shipments by2018.

When a call is placed to a directory assistance service, the callerusually provides one or more descriptors, such as a name, telephonenumber, or address to the service via either an operator or throughvoice recognition software. The directory assistance service thensearches one or more databases for information associated with thedescriptors and provides the information, if any, to the caller eithervia an operator or by an automated voice synthesis system. However, totake advantage of the benefits of directory assistance, the callergenerally must have prior knowledge of the specific telephone numberused to reach the directory assistance (e.g., 865-555-1212 or 411). Tofurther complicate matters, there are a number of local, regional, andnationwide directory assistance services. Accordingly, a callerunfamiliar with a certain locality or region may not have offhandknowledge of the number used to contact the local or regional directoryassistance associated with the area. As a result, the caller typicallymust spend considerable time and effort in locating the directoryassistance number before the caller can obtain information regarding thecaller's previously unsuccessful telephone call to the unavailablenumber.

In view of the limitations of known intercept systems and directoryassistance services, a system and method for providing directoryassistance to customers attempting to place calls to unavailable numbersfrom a location aware wearable device would be advantageous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with preferred embodiments of the invention, some of theproblems associated with providing directory assistance to customersattempting to place calls to unavailable numbers are overcome. A methodand system for providing directory assistance to erroneous calls from awearable device is presented.

The method and system includes an intercept system that interceptserroneous calls from a location aware wearable device and automaticallyroutes them to a directory assistance service. The directory assistanceservice provides a least one advertisement and a variety of otherservices to the callers using current caller data and to one or morealternative numbers for the caller based in part on a determinedphysical location of the location aware wearable network device.

The foregoing and other features and advantages of preferred embodimentsof the present invention will be more readily apparent from thefollowing detailed description. The detailed description proceeds withreferences to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are described withreference to the following drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams illustrating exemplary mechanisms forrouting erroneous calls to a directory assistance service;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary mechanism forproviding directory assistance to a caller attempting to place anerroneous call;

FIG. 4 a is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary directoryassistance service;

FIG. 4 b is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary directoryassistance service and supporting database services connected to callprocessing components;

FIG. 4 c is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary directoryassistance service and supporting database services stored with anintercept database and connected to call processing components;

FIG. 4 d is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary directoryassistance service and supporting database services stored with adirectory assistance database and connected to call processingcomponents;

FIGS. 5 a and 5 b are a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary operationof a system for providing directory assistance to a caller attempting toplace an erroneous call in accordance with at least one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a cloud computing network;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating wearable network devices;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flow diagram illustrating a method for automaticallyrouting erroneous calls to a directory assistance service from alocation aware wearable network device; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for automatically routingerroneous calls to a directory assistance service from a location awarewearable network device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate a system and a method for routing erroneoustelephone calls to a directory assistance service for furtherassistance. An intercept system intercepts these erroneous calls andautomatically routes them to a directory assistance service. Thedirectory assistance service then can inform the caller of theunavailable status of the telephone number the caller is attempting todial. Likewise, the directory assistance service can be adapted toprovide any additional information associated with the unavailablenumber, such as an alternate number associated with the subscriber thecaller is attempting to contact, or one or more telephone numbers ofother subscribers similar to the intended subscriber. The directoryassistance service also can provide additional information regarding thealternate subscribers and/or advertisers. After providing the callerwith any associated information, the directory assistance service can beadapted to forward the caller to an alternate telephone number relatedto the original erroneous telephone number. Furthermore, in at least oneembodiment, the directory assistance service can be adapted to providegeneral or targeted advertisements to the caller in addition to, orinstead of, providing directory assistance to the caller.

An operating environment for the components and devices illustrated inFIGS. 1-5 include processing systems with one or more high speed CentralProcessing Unit(s) (“CPU”), processors and one or more memories. Inaccordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computerprogramming, the present invention is described below with reference toacts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions that areperformed by the processing system, unless indicated otherwise. Suchacts and operations or instructions are referred to as being“computer-executed,” “CPU-executed,” or “processor-executed.”

It will be appreciated that acts and symbolically represented operationsor instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by theCPU or processor. An electrical system represents data bits which causea resulting transformation or reduction of the electrical signals, andthe maintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system tothereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU's or processor'soperation, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locationswhere data bits are maintained are physical locations that haveparticular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic propertiescorresponding to the data bits.

The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable mediumincluding magnetic disks, optical disks, organic memory, and any othervolatile (e.g., Random Access Memory (“RAM”)) or non-volatile (e.g.,Read-Only Memory (“ROM”), flash memory, etc.) mass storage systemreadable by the CPU. The computer readable medium includes cooperatingor interconnected computer readable medium, which exist exclusively onthe processing system or can be distributed among multipleinterconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to theprocessing system.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, mechanisms to automatically routeerroneous telephone calls to one or more directory assistance servicesare illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention. The terms telephone and telephony equipment, as usedherein, refer to any of a variety of devices adapted to originate aconnection to another device and/or accept a connection from anotherdevice via a telephone network, where a telephone network can include aprivate telephone network, such as private branch exchange (PBX), apublic switched telephone network (PSTN), an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN), a fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) telephonenetwork, a cellular or wireless telephone network, a satellite telephonenetwork, and the like, or a combination thereof.

Likewise, telephone calls can be placed using digital data networks,such as the Internet, and hybrid telephone/digital data networks usingtechniques such as the Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and voiceover digital subscriber line (VDSL). Accordingly, a telephone network inaccordance with the present invention can include a digital data networkconventionally used to carry various types of data, for example, theInternet or a local area network (LAN). Likewise, in this case, atelephone can include a device capable of communicating with a digitaldata network, for example, a networked personal computer implementing aVoIP software application. For ease of discussion, the implementationsof the present invention will be discussed herein with reference to aPSTN. However, the implementations of the present invention can beadapted to other types of telephone networks using the guidelinesprovided herein.

As is known in the art, VoIP is a set of facilities for managing thedelivery of voice information using Internet Protocol (IP) packets. Ingeneral, VoIP is used to send voice information in digital form indiscrete data packets (i.e., IP packets, User Datagram Protocols (UDP),etc.) over data networks rather than using traditional circuit-switchedprotocols used on the PSTN. VoIP is used on both wireless and wired datanetworks.

VoIP typically comprises several applications (e.g., Session InitiationProtocol (SIP), Service Location Protocol (SLP), H.323, H.324, DomainName System (DNS), Authentication Authorization and Accounting (AAA),codecs (G.7xx), etc.) that convert a voice signal into a stream ofpackets (e.g., IP packets) on a packet network and back again. VoIPallows voice signals to travel over a stream of data packets over acommunications network and/or telephony networks.

The terms to place a telephone call or to make a call and theirvariations, as used herein, are intended to refer to the act of a caller(a person or an apparatus directed by a person) signaling to a telephonenetwork that a connection is desired between the telephone device of thecaller and the telephone device associated with the dialed telephonenumber. The term “available telephone number” and its variants, as usedherein, are intended to refer to a telephone number that is in serviceand to which calls can successfully be placed. Conversely, the term“unavailable telephone number” and its variants, as used herein, areintended to refer to a telephone number that is not available to thecaller for whatever reason and therefore a call placed to the telephonenumber cannot be completed as dialed. An attempted telephone call placedto an unavailable telephone number is herein referred to as an“erroneous call.” Likewise, a caller attempting to place an erroneouscall is herein referred to as an erroneous caller.

Reasons for an unavailable telephone number can include, but are notlimited to: a disconnected subscriber; the telephone number is out oforder; the phone number is reserved for future use; the telephone numberis unavailable from the caller's area code; the caller failed to enter a1, 0, and/or area code before the number; the caller entered a 1, 0, orarea code before the number when unnecessary; the line is busy; the areacode is incorrect or unavailable, and the like. The attempted telephonecall can include, but is not limited to, a local telephone call, a tollcall (e.g., 900-XXX-XXXX) a toll-free call (i.e., 800-XXX-XXX,888-XXX-XXXX, etc.), a long distance call, an international call, a datacall using an IP or other network address, and the like. An unavailabletelephone number include numbers implemented by the telephone networkbut, for whatever reason, are unavailable. Additionally, an unavailabletelephone number can include numbers that are not implemented by thetelephone network (herein non-existent telephone numbers), such as:certain sequences of telephone digits (e.g., 800-1XX-XXXX and800-XXX-0XXX); numbers that do not exist (065-558-9594); telephonenumbers having area codes that are not implemented (e.g., 999-XXX-XXXX);and the like

In general, when a caller places a call to a destination telephonenumber, the telephone network, such as a PSTN, attempts to create acircuit between the originating telephone and the destination telephone.This circuit typically passes through a local central office connectedto the originating telephone, through one or more trunk lines and othercentral offices, until it reaches the remote central office connected tothe destination telephone. Additionally, if the call is a long-distancetelephone call, the circuit may route through the localpoint-of-presence (POP) and remote POP of the long distance carrier. Toillustrate, if a caller at telephone number (100) 555-0001 (telephone102, smart phone 25, electronic tablet 29, etc.) makes a long-distancecall to the telephone number (200) 555-0001 (telephone 108), then thecircuit between the originating telephone 102 and the destinationtelephone 108 could include a local central office (CO) 122, a local POP124, the PSTN 132, a remote POP 126 and the remote CO 128 connected tothe telephone 108. Alternatively, if the telephone 102 were to make acall to another telephone connected to the same CO 122, such astelephone 104, the call circuit typically would be routed only throughthe CO 122. Likewise, if a call were placed to telephone number (100)556-0001 (telephone 106) on another CO 130 connected to the CO 122without any intermediary COs between, then the call circuit typicallywould include at least CO 122 and CO 130. It should be understood thatthe circuits illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 are exemplary only andrepresent a simplified depiction of the routing associated with suchnetworks. In one embodiment, the PSTN 132 is part of a cloud computingnetwork 610 (FIG. 6) as is explained below.

After a circuit has been generated, or reserved, between the originatingtelephone and the destination telephone, the originating caller and theperson being called can commence their conversation. However, should thecaller place an erroneous call to an unavailable number, the telephonenetwork, at some point during the attempted call, routes the erroneouscaller to an intercept system, such as the automatic intercept system(AIS) 140 illustrated in FIG. 1.

An example automatic intercept system is available under the trade nameDistributed Automatic Intercept System 11 from Computer ConsolesIncorporated of Rochester, N.Y. Conventional intercept systems thenwould inform the erroneous caller as to the status of the dialed numberby playing a recorded voice message and then disconnect the caller,thereby freeing up the components of the circuit for use in other calls.As a result, the erroneous caller would then have to hang up, locate thenumber of a directory assistance service that potentially could assistthe caller, and then dial the directory assistance service.

However, rather than disconnecting the erroneous caller, in at least oneembodiment, a switch within the telephone network, such as at one of COs122, 128, 130, is adapted to detect and intercept an erroneous call andthen automatically forward the erroneous caller to the AIS 140 (asrepresented by the solid lines connecting to the AIS 140 in FIG. 1). Inthis case, the AIS 140 is adapted to route the erroneous caller to adirectory assistance service (DAS) 150, whereupon the DAS 150 is adaptedto assist the erroneous caller in obtaining directory assistanceregarding the unavailable number, such as by providing the status of thedialed number, alternate numbers for the subscriber associated with theunavailable number, and the like. The erroneous caller can then interactwith the DAS 150 to obtain the information.

In one embodiment, the DAS 150 uses the one or more information services(e.g., white pages, yellow pages, search engine searches (e.g., Google,Yahoo, MSN, etc.) public databases, private databases, etc.) used tosearch for information about the caller's telephone number and/or theerroneous/unavailable number. The information is collected from the oneor more information sources external to the telephony network, such asthose available on the Internet and other computer networks, white pageslisting, yellow pages listing, business directory listings, and one ormore information sources internal to the telephony network such astelephony subscriber information and subscriber billing information.

Alternatively, in at least one embodiment, an erroneous call is detectedby a switch within the PSTN 132, and rather than automatically routingthe erroneous caller to the intercept system 140, the switchautomatically routes the erroneous caller to the DAS 150 without theinvolvement of an intercept system such as the AIS 140 (as representedby the dashed lines in FIG. 1). In this case, the DAS 150 may beconsidered both a directory assistance service and an intercept system.

A variety of mechanisms for automatically routing telephones callswithin a telephone network are known to those skilled in the art, andany of these methods can be utilized in accordance with the presentinvention. For example, a Signaling System 7 (SS7) switching mechanismor a Dual Tone Multifrequency (DMTF) switching mechanism can be utilizedto route the erroneous call to a new destination (i.e., the DAS 150).

Although the AIS 140 and the DAS 150 are illustrated in FIG. 1 asseparate entities, in at least one embodiment, the functionality of theAIS 140 and the DAS 150 may be integrated into a single entity adaptedto provide both erroneous call interception as well as directoryassistance to erroneous callers.

In addition to, or instead of, simply informing an erroneous caller ofthe status of the dialed number (e.g., a recorded message that the callhas been disconnected, etc.), the DAS 150 can be adapted to provide oneor more related services to the erroneous caller. In one embodiment, theDAS 150 is adapted to provide one or more alternate numbers associatedwith the unavailable number. For example, if a subscriber moved and, asa result, disconnected its telephone service from one number andreconnected to another telephone number, the DAS 150 could search adatabase for the new number of the subscriber and provide it to thecaller as an alternative. Additional information could be providedregarding the subscriber, such as the previous or current address of thesubscriber, the date of the termination of service for the dialednumber, and the like. Likewise, the DAS 150 could be adapted to connectthe caller to one or more alternate numbers obtained from the DAS 150.In a manner, subscribers may be tagged with historical data, permittingthe DAS 150 to perform any number of smart functions and provide thecaller with helpful options. Accordingly, even though the initial callmade by the caller was to an unavailable number, the caller would nothave to hang up and dial another number to reach an alternate number.

Furthermore, in at least one embodiment, the DAS 150 is adapted tosearch a database for other subscribers that are associated withunavailable number due to one or more shared or similar characteristics.For example, if a caller dials the telephone number of a pizza parlorand the number is determined to be no longer in service, the DAS 150then could identify a new number for the desired pizza parlor and/orlocate another pizza parlor or other restaurant in the same locale andinform the caller of the availability of an alternate telephone number.The DAS 150 then can be adapted to automatically connect the caller tothe telephone number of the other pizza parlor/restaurant. Furthermore,the DAS 150 can be adapted to provide a list of telephone numbers of anumber of pizza parlors/restaurants in the same locale to the erroneouscaller. The caller may then select a desired number from the list ofnumbers and direct the DAS 150 to automatically connect the erroneouscaller to the selected telephone number.

Accordingly, although the erroneous caller may not be able to reach theoriginal intended pizza parlor, the caller could be provided withalternatives in the same geographical region that could suit thecaller's needs. As an adjunct to providing alternate numbers for thesame subscriber or alternate numbers for a related subscriber, the DAS150 can be adapted to play an advertisement, before, during, after thedirectory assistance information is being located and prepared forprovision to the erroneous caller. Alternatively, the DAS 150 can beadapted to provide one or more advertisements without providingdirectory assistance. The advertisement can include a generaladvertisement, or the advertisement can include a targeted advertisementselected based on one or more attributes of the caller and/or theerroneous telephone number the erroneous caller is attempting to call.Referring to the pizza parlor example above, a targeted advertisementcould be selected for playback to the erroneous caller based oninformation associated with the caller (e.g., such as whether the callerhas children), based on the number dialed (e.g., a pizza parlor), thearea of the origin and/or destination of the attempted phone call, andthe like.

The term unavailable subscriber, as used herein, refers to a subscriber,intended person or entity, if any, directly associated with theunavailable number. The unavailable subscriber can include anunavailable or previous subscriber of the unavailable number (i.e., thedisconnected subscriber) or the intended recipient can include a currentsubscriber of the unavailable number, such as when the number istemporarily unavailable due to a temporary malfunction at a centraloffice. In the illustrated embodiment, the telephones 104, 106, and 110are representative of unavailable numbers and/or intended recipients.Further, when a call is made by a caller to an unavailable number in anattempt to contact the unavailable subscriber, the unavailablesubscriber can be considered as the intended recipient of the telephonecall. Conversely, the terms available subscriber or alternatesubscriber, as used herein, are intended to refer to a currentsubscriber to an available number that shares one or morecharacteristics with the unavailable subscriber of the unavailablenumber. The one or more characteristics can include, for example, asimilar geographic location. Similarly, subscribers can be identified byone or more classifications, whereby the classification can includes oneor more classes and/or subclasses used to describe the activity and/ortype of subscriber, such as a business type and subtype of a subscriber.The telephones 102, 108 are representative of available subscribershaving available telephone numbers.

To illustrate, an unavailable subscriber could include a local policedepartment and have a classification of Government:EmergencyServices:Police. However, if the telephone number to this policedepartment were unavailable for some reason, the DAS 150 could determinean alternate subscriber having a similar or exact classification, suchas a local fire department having a classification ofGovernment:Emergency Services:Fire, since the class (Government) and thefirst subclass (Emergency Services) of both the unavailable subscriberand the available subscriber are the same, the DAS 150 can provide thenumber of the local fire department to the caller as an alternatenumber. Further, the DAS 150 could detect that the intended entity is apolice department, that the dialed number is for whatever reasonunavailable, prompt the caller with an inquiry to confirm that thecaller is attempting to contact the police department, and then redirectthe caller to an alternate police department close to the policedepartment the caller is intending to contact.

It will be appreciated that an unavailable subscriber and an availablesubscriber often can include the same entity. To illustrate, if asubscriber were to disconnect from one telephone number, move to a newlocation, and subscribe to a new number, the subscriber couldsimultaneously be an unavailable subscriber via the disconnected numberand an available subscriber via the newly connected number. Accordingly,the DAS 150 can be adapted to search for new or alternate numbers of theprevious subscriber to the unavailable line, such as by searching forthe subscriber's name in a database of current phone numbers.

Rather than, or in addition to, automatically determining alternatenumbers based on one or more characteristics associated with the callerand/or the intended subscriber/telephone number, the DAS 150, in oneembodiment, is further adapted to provide yellow pages directoryservices to an erroneous caller. After an erroneous call is interceptedand routed to the DAS 150, the caller can provide information to the DAS150 indicating the name and/or type of subscriber the caller would liketo contact. Based on this caller-provided information, the DAS 150 canquery a directory database to identify any entries that match or aresubstantially similar to the information provided by the caller. The DAS150 then can present the identified entries, if any, to the caller. Thecaller then may select an entry and direct the DAS 150 to connect thecaller to the telephone number associated with the selected entry.

The information provided by a caller for yellow pages directory servicecan include a variety of information that can be used to identifysubscribers in a telephone network. As with printed versions of theyellow pages telephone directory, a caller can provide informationrepresentative of a business type (such as automotive repair), a partialor full name of a business, organization, or private entity, and thelike. The caller also can provide additional information to limit thescope of the search, such as a certain geographical area, certainbusiness hours, and the like. To illustrate, assume a caller attemptingto contact a car dealership that is no longer in business is routed tothe DAS 150. At the DAS 150, the caller can request a yellow pagesdirectory service and direct the DAS 150 to provide information aboutcar dealerships in the local area by indicating car dealership as thebusiness type to the DAS 150 and a particular car make (e.g., HONDA) asa business subtype. Accordingly, the DAS 150 can search one or moreyellow pages databases to identify one or more HONDA dealerships in thelocal area. The DAS 150 then can provide information about theidentified dealerships, such as their telephone numbers, locations,business hours, etc. Any of a variety of mechanisms may be utilized toobtain yellow pages directory service information from a caller. Forexample, the caller can speak directly to a human operator of the DAS150. Alternatively, the DAS 150 can employ voice recognition software toconvert the caller's speech into text, which is then parsed into searchfields. The caller also could use the keyboard or keypad of thetelephone device used to place the call to provide some or all of theinformation to the DAS 150. Although a number of exemplary mechanismsfor providing information from the caller to the DAS 150 for yellowpages directory service have been discussed, those skilled in the artcan develop other mechanisms using the guidelines provided herein.

Furthermore, in at least one embodiment, the system 100 is adapted toprovide one or more advertisements to the erroneous caller while thecaller is waiting for directory assistance, during directory assistance,or afterwards, such as while the call is being forwarded to a differenttelephone number. A mechanism to provide telephone advertisements isdisclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,625 to Lederman. Theadvertisements can be inserted by routing the call to an advertisementsystem (not shown), which then routes the call to the DAS 150, as taughtby Lederman. In this case, the advertisement system can periodicallyinterrupt the directory assistance service and insert an advertisement.Alternatively, the call can be routed directly to the DAS 150, where theDAS 150 is further adapted to provide one or more advertisements to thecaller during the directory assistance. These and other services thatcan be provided by the DAS 150 are discussed in greater detail withreference to FIG. 3.

Although an exemplary simplified telephone network is illustrated inFIG. 1 to describe, in general, the mechanism utilized to connect anoriginating telephone and a destination telephone during an attemptedcall, other telephone network architectures can be used in accordancewith the present invention. Likewise, it will be appreciated thatalthough the PSTN 132 typically incorporates the COs 122, 128 and thePOPs 124, 126, they have been illustrated as separate entities in FIG. 1for ease of discussion.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, an erroneous call can be intercepted andprovided to a directory assistance service at any of a variety of pointsalong the telephone network between the originating telephone device andthe intended calling destination. In the illustrated embodiment,telephone 102 is the originating telephone, the telephone 104 representsan unavailable number associated with the same central office (CO 122)connected to the telephone 102. The telephone 106 represents anunavailable number associated with a CO 130, where the CO 130 can beconnected to the CO 122 without the use of a long-distance carrier. Thetelephone 108 represents a working telephone number that can beconnected to the telephone 102 via a long-distance connection. On theother hand, the telephone 110 represents an unavailable telephoneassociated with the CO 128 that is remote to the CO 122 (therebynecessitating a long-distance connection between the two central officesduring an attempted call).

Assume that telephone 102 places a local call to the unavailable number(100) 555-0002 (telephone 104). In this case, since both the originatingnumber of telephone 102, (100) 555-0001, and the destination number,(100) 555-0002, are managed by the same CO 122, no further switchingthrough the PSTN 132 generally is necessary. In this case, a switch atthe CO 122 attempting to generate a circuit between the telephone 102and the telephone 104 determines that the destination number is anunavailable number. The switch then routes the call to the DAS 150,either directly or through the AIS 140. A variety of mechanisms may beused by the CO 122 to intercept the erroneous call. For example, theswitch at the CO 122 could include an intercept database of theunavailable numbers connected to the CO 122. The switch could thensearch the intercept database for the dialed number, and if located inthe database, route the call to the DAS 150 directly or via the AIS 140.Other mechanisms for intercepting calls to unavailable numbers known tothose skilled in the art may be used without departing from the spiritor the scope of the present invention.

In the event that the telephone 102 places a call to the unavailablenumber (100) 556-0001, which is still local but connected to a differentCO 130, the erroneous call can be intercepted at either the CO 122 orthe CO 130. For example, the CO 122 could query the CO 130 to see if thedialed number is unavailable. If the number is unavailable, then the CO122 could then direct the call to the DAS 150 to provide the caller withdirectory assistance. Alternatively, the CO 122, without knowledge ofthe status of the subscriber line associated with the dialed number,could then open a circuit between the CO 122 and the CO 130 for theattempted call. In this case, the CO 130 would then determine that theattempted call is an erroneous call to the unavailable number and routethe call to the DAS 150 accordingly.

Since, in this case, the telephone 108 represents a working telephonenumber, (200) 555-0001, a call placed to this number by the telephone102 presumably would be successful barring any failures between the CO122 and the CO 128. A circuit would be created between the telephone122, the local POP 124 of the long-distance carrier, the PSTN 132, theremote POP 126 of the long-distance carrier, the remote CO 128, andfinally the telephone 108. However, a long-distance call placed to thetelephone number (200) 555-0002 (telephone 110) would be unsuccessfulsince the number is unavailable in the illustrated example. Accordingly,at some point between the telephone 102 and the telephone 110, the callwould be routed to the DAS 150, either directly or via the AIS 140, toprovide directory assistance to the erroneous caller. The erroneous callcould be intercepted at the CO 122, at the local POP 124, at some pointalong the PSTN 132, at the remote POP 126, and/or at the remote CO 126.

The point at which the erroneous call is intercepted and subsequentlyautomatically routed to the DAS 150 can be based on any of a variety offactors. One factor includes the ability of an element of the system 100to determine that the call is an erroneous call. To illustrate, the CO122 or local POP 124 typically are unlikely to have prior knowledge thatthe telephone number (202) 555-0002 is unavailable, due to separation ofthe CO 122 and the local POP 124 from the CO 128 as well as the sheernumber of subscribers connected to the PSTN 132. To have such knowledgegenerally would require the CO 122 to maintain a relatively largedatabase, as well as a mechanism to update the database when the statusof a subscriber changes.

However, since the CO 130 is one logical node from the CO 122, it ismore feasible that the CO 122 could maintain knowledge of theunavailable numbers of the CO 130. For example, central officestypically manage about 10,000 subscriber lines (i.e., telephone lines).Assuming that no more that 10% of the subscriber lines are unavailableand that a central office is directly connected to no more than 10 othercentral offices, a central office would only need to manage an interceptdatabase of around 10,000 entries (10,000 subscribers/central office*10central offices*10% unavailable numbers). As a result, an erroneoustelephone call from telephone 102 to the unavailable number (100)555-0002 could easily be intercepted at either CO 122 or CO 130 andredirected to the DAS 150.

In the same vein, since the remote POP 126 is more local to theunavailable number, the remote POP 126 is more likely to have priorknowledge that the telephone number (200) 555-0002 is an unavailablenumber than either the local CO 122 or the local POP 124. However, themost feasible point to intercept an erroneous long distance call inaccordance with the present invention typically includes the remote CO128 associated with the unavailable telephone number. In this case, theCO 128 would detect that a call is being attempted to the unavailablenumber and route the call to the DAS 150 accordingly or the CO 128 couldsignal to the originating CO of the call that the number is unavailableand the originating CO could route the call to the DAS 150. Althoughsome points are more likely to be utilized to intercept erroneous calls,any point between the originating caller and the central officeassociated with the unavailable number may be used to intercepterroneous calls in accordance with the present invention.

Another factor that can be used in determining the point at which anerroneous call is intercepted includes the type of directory assistanceservice to be provided. In at least one embodiment, the DAS 150 caninclude any of a variety of geographically-based directory assistanceservices, such as a local directory assistance service, a or regionaldirectory assistance service, a national local directory assistanceservice, an international directory assistance service, and the like.The DAS 150 also can include one or more specialized directoryassistance services, such as 800 directory assistance, governmentdirectory assistance, and the like. Accordingly, the point where a callis intercepted can be based on the type of directory assistance providedby the DAS 150. For example, if the DAS 150 includes a nationwidedirectory assistance service, the erroneous call could be interceptedand routed to the DAS 150 at any point between the originating CO andthe destination CO. However, if the DAS 150 includes a local directoryassistance service, the most benefit typically would be provided if thecall were intercepted at the point of the PSTN 132 closest to thedestination of the erroneous call. For example, if the telephone 102were to a long-distance call to the unavailable number (200) 555-0002and the call were intercepted at the CO 122 and provided to a localversion of the DAS 150 specific to the region where the CO 122 islocated, the directory assistance provided by the local DAS 150 isunlikely to be of much assistance to the caller since the dialed numberis in a different locality. However, if the erroneous call were to beintercepted at the CO 128 and provided to a local version of the DAS 150specific to the region of the CO 128, then the DAS 150 is more likely tohave access to the appropriate information desired by the erroneouscaller.

Likewise, the cost of the call to the DAS 150 may be considered whenintercepting and routing the erroneous call. To save the customer money,an erroneous call made locally could be directed to a local version ofthe DAS 150, thereby avoiding a long-distance toll on the directoryassistance call. Alternatively, all erroneous calls, whether local orlong-distance, could be routed to a nationwide version of the DAS 150,where the telephone service provider could receive consideration in theform of a long-distance charge in exchange for providing the directoryassistance to the caller.

Referring now to FIG. 3, various services that can be provided by theDAS 150 are illustrated in greater detail in accordance the presentinvention. In at least one embodiment, the DAS 150 includes, or hasaccess to, one or more databases having information related to thetelephone numbers serviced by the DAS 150, such as unavailable numberdatabase 310, available number database 350, and advertisement database370. The DAS 150 can then utilize the information contained in thesedatabases, as well as other databases, to inform the erroneous caller ofthe status of the line, provide additional information, providealternate information, provide advertisements, and the like.

To illustrate, when an erroneous call is routed to the DAS 150, asdescribed previously, the DAS 150 can be adapted to search theunavailable number database 310 for the unavailable number and itsassociated information. In the illustrated embodiment, the unavailablenumber database 310 includes a number of entries 312-326 each having asubscriber number field 330, an unavailable subscriber identifier field332, a subscriber descriptor field 334, a classification field 336, atype field 338, a subtype field 340, and a location field 342, as wellas other fields, as appropriate. The subscriber number field 330includes an unavailable number and the unavailable subscriber identifierfield 332 includes an identifier associated with the unavailablesubscriber of the unavailable number, if any, such as a name or customeridentification number. The subscriber descriptor field 334 includes adescriptor of the unavailable subscriber. In the exemplary subscriberdescriptor field 334 of FIG. 3, a C indicates a commercial subscriber, aP indicates a private subscriber (i.e., a home residence), a U indicatesthat the unavailable subscriber information is unavailable or that thetelephone number wasn't previously assigned to a subscriber, and a Rindicates that the number has been reserved for some reason or another.The classification field 336 includes a classification of thesubscriber, such as a restaurant (Food), a service business (Service),or if the unavailable subscriber was a non-commercial entity, if thesubscriber was Listed or Unlisted. Likewise, the type field 338 and thesubtype field 340 further classify the subscriber by providingsubclasses of the subscriber classification. For example, the entry 312includes an unavailable subscriber Pete's Pizza, which was a pizzaparlor at one time prior to Pete's Pizza disconnecting its subscriptionto the telephone number (100) 555-0002. Accordingly, the type field 338and subtype field 340 include the indicators Fast-Food and Pizza,respectively.

Should the telephone number later be reassigned to another person orbusiness, the related information could be updated or supplemented. Thelocation field 342 can include any of a variety of indicators of thephysical location of the subscriber, such as a zip code, an area code,an address, a city name, a county name, and the like. Likewise, thelocation field 342 can include an indirect location identifier, such asan identifier or location of the central office to which thecorresponding subscriber is connected. In the illustrated embodiment,the location field 342 includes the zip codes of the associatedsubscribers.

Likewise, the available number database 350, in the illustratedembodiment, includes a plurality of entries 352-360 corresponding to aplurality of available subscribers and their associated telephonenumbers. As with the unavailable number database 310, the availablenumber database 350 includes, but is not limited to, a subscriber numberfield 330, a subscriber descriptor field 334, a classification field336, a type field 338, a subtype field 340, and a location field 342.Additionally, the available number database 350 includes an availablesubscriber identifier field 362, analogous to the unavailable subscriberfield, whereby an identifier of the available subscriber, such as a nameor customer code, is stored.

When an erroneous call is routed to the DAS 150, the DAS 150 can beadapted to search the unavailable number database 310 to locateinformation associated with the unavailable number dialed by the caller.Once the information is found, if present, the DAS 150 can provide someor all of the associated information to the caller. For example, if thecaller dialed the disconnected number (100) 555-0021, the DAS 150 couldfind the corresponding entry 320 in the unavailable number database 310and provide the name of the intended recipient to the caller, allowingthe caller to confirm the intended destination of the call.

Additionally, in at least one embodiment, the DAS 150 is adapted tosearch the available subscriber database 350 to provide informationrelative to the unavailable number to the erroneous caller. Toillustrate, assume that a caller dialed (100) 555-0005 in an attempt toreach John Doe. Since this number has, in this example, beendisconnected, the erroneous call is intercepted and routed to the DAS150. The DAS 150 then searches the unavailable number database 310 forthe corresponding entry (entry 314). The DAS 150, noting the name of theintended recipient (i.e., the unavailable subscriber), searches theavailable number database 350 for a corresponding entry for John Doe.Finding the entry 356, the DAS 150 can provide the updated phone numberfor John Doe, (100) 555-1003, in the corresponding subscriber numberfield 330 to the caller. Likewise, the DAS 150 can be adapted to connectthe caller to the updated number, either automatically or by promptingthe caller in the event that the same subscriber has not subscribed to adifferent number, the DAS 150, in at least one embodiment, is adapted tosearch for one or more available subscribers similar to the unavailablesubscriber and to provide information associated with the one or moreavailable subscribers to the caller as an alternative. As discussedpreviously, an alternate subscriber includes a current subscriber havingone or more characteristics, such as geographical location and/orsubscriber classification, which are similar to the characteristics ofthe unavailable subscriber. For example, assume that a caller dialed(100) 555-0002 (entry 312) and was routed to the DAS 150 because thisnumber has been disconnected. Accordingly, the DAS 150 can locate entry312 in the unavailable number database 310 and determine that theunavailable subscriber has the classification Food:Fast Food:Pizza basedon fields 336-340. Using this classification, the DAS 150 can search theavailable number database 350 for entries having a similarclassification. In this case, entries 352 and 354 have subscribers thathave classifications exactly matching the unavailable subscriber'sclassification. Likewise, the entry 356 includes the subscriber BurgerMart having a classification of Food:Fast Food:Hamburgers, which issimilar to the classification of the intended subscriber.

In the event that one or more similarly classified entries have beenlocated, the DAS 150 can inform the caller of the existence ofalternatives to the intended subscriber and provide the informationassociated with one or more of the alternatives to the caller. If two ormore alternatives exist, information for all of the alternatives can beprovided to the caller, or a subset of alternatives could be providedbased on a number of factors. For one, the alternatives chosen could beselected based on their physical proximity to the unavailablesubscriber. For example, the subscriber to the telephone number (100)555-0002 (entry 312), Pete's Pizza, was at one point in time, located inthe zip code 10002 and, in this example, the Pizza Palace is located inzip code, whereas Pasta and Pizza is located in the zip code 10001.Accordingly, since Pete's Pizza (the intended recipient) and PizzaPalace (an alternate subscriber) are located in the same zip code, theDAS 150 can provide the information associated with the Pizza Palace. Ina similar manner, the DAS 150 could be adapted to determine the distancebetween the address of an intended recipient and one or more alternateavailable subscribers and then provide information associated with oneor more of the alternate subscribers closest to the location, prior orcurrent, of the intended recipient (i.e., the unavailable subscriber).

Likewise, the alternate subscribers could be chosen based on the degreeto which the classifications of the alternates match the classificationof the unavailable subscriber. Alternatively, the subscribers could beranked based on the size of a payment made by the subscribers to belisted in the available number database 350, and the higher rankedalternatives are provided before the lower ranked alternatives.

As discussed above, in one embodiment, the DAS 150 is adapted to providea yellow pages directory service to an erroneous caller, where thecaller provides information to the DAS 150 regarding the subscriber(s)the caller is attempting to contact. Using this information, the DAS 150searches one or more databases, such as available subscriber database350, for entries conforming to the caller-provided information. Theinformation associated with the identified entry or entries can beprovided to the caller, and the caller can select an entry to direct theDAS 150 to forward the caller to the telephone number associated withthe selected entry. To illustrate, assume a call placed by a callerattempting to call the disconnected number for Jan's Beauty Salon (entry316) could be intercepted and routed to the DAS 150. The DAS 150, inthis case, could prompt the erroneous caller to provide informationregarding the intended recipient of the call. This information couldinclude, for example, information indicating that the caller is lookingfor a hair salon. This information can be conveyed to the DAS 150 bytext conversion of the caller's speech, input by an human operatorconversing with the caller, text input via the caller's keyboard orkeypad, navigation through nested lists, and the like. To illustrate,DAS 150 could provide a listing of business types via an audiotransmission and the caller could select the desired business (personalservice) by pressing a number key associated with the personal serviceentry of the business type listing. The DAS 150 then could furthernarrow the search field by presenting a list personal service business.Again, the caller could refine the search by pressing the number keyassociated, for example, with the beauty salon of the personal servicebusiness list.

Using the caller-supplied information, the DAS 150 can search theavailable subscriber database 350 for one or more entries having similarcharacteristics. In the illustrated example, Mary's Hair Salon (entry360) is within the parameters as defined by the caller. Accordingly, theDAS 150 can, in this example, provide information associated with Mary'sHair Salon, such as the telephone number, location, business hours, etc.The caller may then direct the DAS 150 to forward the caller to thetelephone number associated with Mary's Hair Salon.

In certain instances, a caller may attempt to place a telephone call toan unavailable number that is a non-existent number, i.e., a number thatis not supported by the telephone network (as discussed above). As such,it will be appreciated that there typically will be little, if anyinformation associated with the non-existent telephone number. In suchan instance, the DAS 150, noting the attempt to call a non-existentphone number, may forego attempting to identify alternate telephonenumbers since there typically is no information upon which to establishsuch a comparison. Rather, the DAS 150 may take any of a number ofactions. For one, the DAS 150 can provide directory assistance withoutautomatically providing alternate numbers. Alternatively, the DAS 150automatically provide yellow pages directory assistance, therebyallowing the caller to locate an alternate number by providinginformation regarding the caller's intended call recipient. Anotheraction that the DAS 150 can take is to analyze historic informationrelated to the dialed nonexistent number. For example, numerous callerscould have confused an existing and available telephone with anon-existent number and then dialed the non-existent number.Accordingly, the DAS 150 can determine the number dialed most often bythe callers after dialing the non-existent number and provide thisnumber as an alternate number to subsequent callers to the non-existentnumber. The DAS 150 can forward the caller to a human operator, who maythen assist the caller in finding the appropriate alternate number.Before, during, and/or after the performance of any of the aboveactions, the DAS 150 can be adapted to provide one or moreadvertisements to the caller.

As discussed previously, in at least one embodiment, the DAS 150additionally is adapted to provide one or more advertisements to thecaller before, during, and/or after rendering directory assistance tothe caller. Accordingly, the DAS 150 can have access to one or moreadvertisement databases 370 having one or more entries 372-380corresponding to available advertisements. The advertisements caninclude commercials, public service announcements (PSAs), informationregarding certain topics, such as the weather or emergency situations,and the like. The advertisement database 370 can have an adidentification field 382, an ad name field 384, as well as theclassification field 336, type field 338, subtype field 340 and locationfield 342, such as discussed above.

As discussed above, rather than, or in addition to, providing directoryassistance, the DAS 150, in one embodiment, is adapted to provide one ormore general advertisements to a caller. When a general advertisement isto be provided to the caller, the DAS 150 can select one or more of theadvertisements from the advertisement database 370 based on a number offactors. In one embodiment, the advertisements are selected in a mannersimilar to a circular queue, whereby each advertisement is selected andplayed in turn. In another embodiment, the advertisements are selectedbased on a rank, whereby the rank of an advertisement may be determined,for example, based on the amount of consideration the provider of theDAS 150 received from the advertiser.

Alternatively, in addition to, or instead of, generalizedadvertisements, one or more targeted advertisements can be provided tothe caller based on the properties of the erroneous call. If a callerwere to call, for example, the disconnected number (100) 555-0009 in anattempt to reach Jan's Beauty Salon, the erroneous call would beintercepted and routed to the DAS 150, whereby the DAS 150 locates thenumber at entry 316 of the database 310. The DAS 150 can then search thedatabase 350 for a current number for Jan's Beauty Supply oralternatives based on classification, location, and the like. In thiscase, an alternative can be found at entry 360 (Mary's Hair Salon) basedon a match between their classifications. Accordingly, the DAS 150 canprovide the telephone number for Mary's Hair Salon to the caller.

Before, during, or after this information is provided, the DAS 150 cansearch the advertisement database 370 for an advertisement entry relatedto the information desired by the caller. In this case, an advertisementhaving a classification that matches the classification(Service:Personal:Hair) of Jan's Beauty Salon can be found at entry 378of the advertisement database 370 corresponding to an advertisement forBob's Barber. Accordingly, the DAS 150 can select the advertisement forBob's Barber and provide this message to the caller before, during,and/or after the directory assistance. Similarly, a call to theunavailable number (100) 555-0002 could result in the DAS 150 providingone or more of the advertisements for Pasta and Pizza, Pizza Palace, andBurger Mart, since their classifications match, exactly or partially,the classification of Pete's Pizzeria. Likewise, the DAS 150 canmaintain, or have access to, a caller information database 390 havinginformation associated with customers of the telephone network(s). Theinformation associated with callers can include various types ofinformation, such as the marital status of the caller, informationregarding the caller's family, the caller's interests, recent purchases,and the like. The information in the caller information database 390 canbe obtained from a third party, from surveys, census information, andthe like. In the illustrated example, the caller information database390 includes entries 392-396 having the current subscriberidentification field 330, a marital status field 344, a family field346, an interests field 348, and a recent purchases field 398. Althoughthe above fields are illustrated, those skilled in the art may implementother/additional information fields using the guidelines providedherein.

In one embodiment, the DAS 150 can identify the caller, such as bytelephone number, and locate the corresponding entry in the callerinformation database 390. The DAS 150 then can select one or moretargeted advertisements from advertisement database 370 based at leastin part on the information in the corresponding entry. For example, ifKyle Mark (entry 394) were to make an erroneous call that is interceptedand routed to the DAS 150, the DAS 150, noting that Kyle Mark recentlypurchased a home (based on the recent purchases field 398), could selectAdvertisement No. 5 (entry 380) for Hardware Store to be played to KyleMark, since the Hardware Store can be associated with the purchase of ahome. In another example, assume that an erroneous call placed byCynthia Stevens (entry 392) is routed to the DAS 150. The DAS 150, inthis example, could note that Cynthia Stevens has three children. Basedon this information, the DAS 150 could select an advertisement for a daycare provider (not shown) from the advertisement database 370 to beplayed to Cynthia Stevens prior to directory service.

Although a number of potential services provided by the DAS 150 havebeen illustrated herein, other services provided by various directoryassistance services may be utilized in accordance with the presentinvention.

In its basic called-number embodiments, the present invention replacesqueries to the caller with both direct and indirect derivation ofrelevant subscriber data from the intercepted called number alone. Itsderivation process enhances the information provided in the directoryassistance process, reduces time spent in voice or menu dialogs andexchanges, and avoids the errors inherent in such dialogs and exchanges.

Referring now to FIG. 4 b for an exemplary implementation of the DAS 150offering enhanced derived subscriber information.

FIG. 4 b illustrates a DAS 150 with a business subscriber informationservice 451, a white page database service 452, yellow page databaseservice 453, or a business intelligence database service 454, rule-basedexpert system service 455. an Internet search service 456 includingaccess to public and/or private Internet search engine services,alternative number service 457 and/or a demographics service 458.

The alternative number service 457 provides one or more alternativenumbers associated with a caller's number including an alternative voicenumber, facsimile number, one or more mobile phone numbers includingsmart phone 25 numbers, a electronic tablet 29 number, text messagingidentifier, instant messaging identifier or a social media identifier(e.g., a TWITTER® hash tag, a FACEBOOK® or YOU TUBE® identifier, loginidentifier on a social media site, etc.). However, the present inventionis not limited to such an embodiment, and more fewer and otheralternative numbers can be used to practice the invention.

The demographics service 458 provides caller demographics such as callergender, estimated caller income, number of household members, etc.However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, andmore fewer and other alternative numbers can be used to practice theinvention. To derive demographics data, the DAS 150 retrieves thelisting name and/or other unique identifying the caller from a telephonecompany supplied business subscriber information service 451. Thelisting name and/or other unique identifying information is sent to thedemographic service 458 to retrieve demographic information. Thedemographic service 458 may access other databases such as governmentcensus databases, local municipalities property tax and assessmentinformation, etc. The demographic information is used to select anappropriate advertiser. For example, if a caller with the estimatedlarge income called an unavailable number for a grocery store, theadvertisement selected by the DAS 150 might be for a boutique organicgrocery store instead of a big-box retail store that sells groceries,and every other imaginable kind of product, etc.

To derive the name of the subscriber represented by the interceptednumber, the DAS 150 retrieves the listing name from a telephone companysupplied business subscriber information service 451, a white pagedatabase service 452, yellow page database service 453, or a businessintelligence database service 454, using a reverse telephone numbersearch for the unavailable telephone number.

In one embodiment, “Derived subscriber information” is defined as “anydata element a value of which can be determined from input valuesavailable at the intercept system for an intercepted call. The inputvalues available include the intercepted called number and, whenprovided in the network, the calling number. Derived subscriberinformation includes listing name, listing address, listing geographiclocation, (e.g., GeoCode, etc.) listing category or businessclassification, listing call frequency and caller demographics.

The following description applies both to the processing of theintercepted number and to the processing of the subscriber nameassociated with that number as is illustrated in FIG. 4 b.

To derive the name of the subscriber represented by the interceptednumber, the DAS 150 retrieves the listing name from a telephone companysupplied business subscriber information service 451, a white pagedatabase service 452, or a business intelligence database service 454,using a reverse telephone number search for the unavailable telephonenumber.

To derive the business classification or business category of thesubscriber represented by the intercepted number, the DAS 150 retrievesthe business classification or business category of the subscriber froma yellow page database service 453, or a business intelligence databaseservice 454, using a reverse telephone number search for the unavailabletelephone number.

In one embodiment, the DAS 150 includes artificial-intelligenceembodiments. As is known in the arts, artificial intelligence includeshardware and software applications that have the ability to makedecisions and that have the ability to learn from prior decisions andincludes the reproduction of methods or results of human reasoning.

In a first artificial-intelligence embodiment, the DAS 150 obtains thebusiness classification or business category of the subscriber using arule-based expert system or other similar expert system 455 to derivethe classification or category from the business name listed for theunavailable telephone number. An exemplary method of such derivationfollows. The DAS 150: (1) derives a listing name of a subscriberrepresented by the unavailable telephone number, using services 451,452, or 454 as described above, or obtains the listing name from anotherservice; (2) uses its rule base to parse the derived listing name intosignificant words and phrases. In one exemplary embodiment, permutingwords and retrieving synonyms for significant words are used; (3)further uses its rule base to determine one or more candidate businesscategories or classifications associated with the significant words andphrases; and (4) further uses its rule base to select one preferredbusiness category or classification from among the candidatesdetermined.

In a second artificial-intelligence embodiment, the DAS 150 obtains abusiness classification or business category of the subscriber usingstatistical data and instead in step (4) above to select one preferredbusiness category or classification from among the candidatesdetermined.

In a third artificial-intelligence embodiment, the DAS 150 obtainsbusiness classification or business category of the subscriber usingheuristics and instead in steps (2)-(4) above, applies problem-solvingtechniques to analyze a listing name, determines candidate businesscategories, and selects one preferred business category orclassification from among the candidates determined.

In an Internet-search embodiment, the DAS 150 obtains businessclassification or business category of the subscriber represented by theunavailable telephone number by retrieving the business category of thesubscriber from an Internet search service 456 using a telephone numbersearch for the unavailable telephone number.

In another embodiment, the DAS 150 obtains alternative numberinformation from an alternative number service 457.

In another embodiment, the DAS 150 obtains demographic information fromdemographic service 458.

In an embodiment combining artificial intelligence methods and Internetsearch, the DAS 150 obtains a business classification or businesscategory of the subscriber represented by the unavailable telephonenumber by applying the methods of the artificial-intelligenceembodiments to the listing name of the subscriber or the businessclassification produced by the Internet search service.

Once a business category is selected or derived from the unavailabletelephone number, the invention retrieves listings in the selected orderived business category and selects one or more candidate listingsfrom among those listings retrieved, for presentation to the caller.

To derive the address or geographic location (e.g., GeoCode) of thesubscriber represented by the intercepted number, the DAS 150 retrievesan address or geographic location of the subscriber from a white pagedatabase service 452, yellow page database service 453, or a businessintelligence database service 454, using a reverse telephone numbersearch for the unavailable telephone number. Geographic location maythen be used to select candidate alternative listings to be presented toa caller.

In a DAS routing embodiment, the DAS 150 uses information derived fromthe intercepted number, such as geographic location or businessclassification, to route the caller to a specific directory assistanceservice. Numerous directory assistance services may be available toprovide service for the same or overlapping sets of related telephonenumbers related by location or classification. Such routing can providea caller with access to the best sources of information concerning abroad range of characteristics of the unavailable number called,providing for the offering of many different types of directoryassistance service to the caller.

In an ANI (automated calling number identification) embodiment, the DAS150 replaces queries to the caller with both direct and indirectderivation of relevant subscriber data from both the calling number(when available) and the intercepted called number. As for the basiccalled-number embodiments, the DAS 150 derivation process enhances theinformation provided in the directory assistance process, reduces timespent in voice or menu dialogs and exchanges, and avoids the errorsinherent in such dialogs and exchanges.

Referring again to FIG. 4 b for an exemplary implementation. Enhancedsubscriber information for both calling number and called number isderived from services 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 475 and 458 as forthe basic called-number embodiments.

In an enhanced intercept system storage embodiment, any or all of thesubscriber information available from the services 451, 452, 453, 454,455, 456, 457 and 458 of FIG. 4 b may be stored in, and retrieveddirectly from, the intercept system itself, thereby saving intersystemtraffic and offering speedier responses to the caller.

See FIG. 4 c, showing the services 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457 and458 residing in the system containing the intercept database 440.

In an enhanced DA system storage embodiment, any or all of thesubscriber information available from the services 451, 452, 453, 454,455, 456, 457 and 458 of FIG. 4 b may be stored in, and retrieveddirectly from, the directory assistance service or system itself,thereby saving intersystem traffic and offering speedier responses tothe caller.

See FIG. 4 d, which is identical to FIG. 4 c except that the placementof the services 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 457, 458 is now in the systemcontaining the directory assistance database 450.

In a caller-interactive embodiment, when the DAS 150 is unable to derivenecessary information for the intercepted number using reverse telephonenumber search from available databases, the invention sends the call toan interactive system, either interactive voice recognition oragent-based, to interact with the caller to elicit and capture necessaryinformation for the intended number.

FIGS. 4 a, 4 b, 4 c, and 4 d all illustrate an exemplary voiceprocessing system 420 which comprises the interactive system interactingwith the caller, and an operator 470 which comprises the agent-basedsystem interacting with the caller. The information elicited is used toprovide an alternate subscriber to the caller.

In an enhanced caller-interactive embodiment, the DAS 150 stores theelicited information obtained in the basic caller-interactive embodimentin an intercept database or similar database for use by all embodimentsof the present invention during later calls to the intercepted number.

The information elicited from interaction with the caller may be storedin a database in association with the intercepted number for future useduring intercepted calls made to that number.

The present invention has been described as being implemented in theDAS. However, the present invention is not limited to the DAS 150 andcan be implemented in other components.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 a and 5, an exemplary implementation of the DAS150 is illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention. Although FIG. 4 a illustrates an exemplaryconfiguration of the DAS 150 and FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplaryutilization of the DAS 150, the present invention is not intended to belimited to the illustrated implementation. Accordingly, those skilled inthe art can develop alternative implementations of the DAS 150, usingthe guidelines provided herein, without departing from the spirit or thescope of the present invention.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 4 a, the DAS 150 includestelephony equipment 410 to interface with a telephone network and anoperator interface 470 to interface with an operator or a pool ofoperators. The DAS 150 further includes a voice processing module 420adapted to convert speech received from a caller into a digitalrepresentation and to convert a digital speech data into synthesizedspeech for playback to the caller. The DAS 150 further includes, or hasaccess to, an intercept database 440 and a directory assistance database450. In embodiments wherein the DAS 150 is adapted to provideadvertisements during directory assistance, the DAS 150 includes or hasaccess to the advertisement database 370. A processor 430 is used toreceive information from the caller via the interface 410 and/or thevoice processing module 420, to search the intercept database 440, thedirectory assistance database 450 and/or the advertisement database 370,and to provide corresponding information to the caller via the voiceprocessing module 420 and the telephony equipment 410. The processor 430can include a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a used in the operation of the DAS 150, suchas power supplies, busses, and the like, are well known and are omittedfor ease of illustration.

In one embodiment, the directory assistance and at least oneadvertisement are selected based on referral fees paid by advertisers,businesses and one or more information service providers. In oneexemplary embodiment, the directory assistance and at least oneadvertisement are selected in an ordering based on an amount of areferral fee paid. In another exemplary embodiment, a pre-determinedmethod (e.g., list, first-in-first out (FIFO) queue, last-in-first-out(LIFO) queue, round-robin, etc.) is used to select the directoryassistance and the at least one advertisement.

In one embodiment, entries for advertisers, businesses and one or moreinformation service providers are located by business location andbusiness category include businesses accepting referrals offered tocallers attempting to place a telephone call to an unavailable businesstelephone number.

In another embodiment, the advertisers, businesses and one or moreinformation service providers accepting referrals offered to callersattempting to place a telephone call to an unavailable businesstelephone number comprise businesses paying for receiving the referrals.

In another embodiment, the DAS 150 bases selection advertising referralsthat will generate a highest expected value for a referral call, takinginto account a price for call delivery, a likelihood of the call being‘billable’ and any revenue sharing agreements in place with theadvertisers, businesses and one or more information service providers.

Referring to FIG. 5 a, an operation of the system 100 to intercepterroneous calls is illustrated. The method 500 initiates with step 502,wherein a caller attempts to call an intended destination at a specifiednumber. This call can include a local call, a toll call, a long-distancecall, and the like. At step 504, an element of the PSTN 132 determinesif the number dialed is disconnected, out-of-service, not installed, orotherwise unavailable. As discussed previously, the determination ofwhether the call is to be intercepted can occur at the local centraloffice, at a point-of-presence of a long-distance carrier, at a remotecentral office and the like, based on the properties of the call, suchas a local call versus a long-distance call. If the call is to a validnumber, a circuit is completed between the originating telephone and thelanding, or destination, telephone and the call commences at step 506.

In the event that the dialed number is unavailable, the method 500proceeds to step 508, wherein the call is intercepted and routed to theDAS 150. As discussed previously, the call can be intercepted by the AIS140 and then automatically routed by the AIS 140 to the DAS 150, thecall can be routed directly to the DAS 150, or the DAS 150 can alsoimplement the functionality of the AIS 140 in addition to providingdirectory assistance. The call is received by DAS 150 at the telephonyequipment 410. The telephony equipment 410 can receive variousproperties of the call from the telephone network, such as the dialedand originating telephone numbers from an automatic number indicator(ANI) or operator number indicator (ONI) connected to the DAS 150.

At step 510, it is determined if the DAS 150 is to provide generaladvertising before, during, or after providing directory assistance tothe caller. In the event that the DAS 150 is not adapted to providegeneral advertising or general advertising is not desired, then themethod 500 proceeds to step 516. Otherwise, the processor 430 selectsone or more general ads from the advertising database 370. As discussedpreviously, the selected general advertisement(s) can be selected from acircular queue, selected based on compensation received from theadvertisers, and the like. At step 514 the selected advertisement oradvertisements are inserted before the DAS 150 provides directoryassistance to the caller. Alternatively, the selected advertisement(s)can be inserted during or after the directory assistance.

At step 516, the processor 430 utilizes the properties of the erroneouscall to search the intercept database 440 for the entry related to theunavailable number. The intercept database 440 can include theunavailable number database 310 of FIG. 3. In this case, the processor430 can find the entry corresponding to the dialed number to determinethe status of the number, the unavailable subscriber, the address of theunavailable subscriber, the classification of the unavailablesubscriber, and the like. At FIG. 5 a at step 518, the addition oftargeted advertisement based on unavailable subscriber information isevaluated. If the DAS 150 is not adapted to insert targetedadvertisements or targeted advertising not desired, the method 500continues to step 524.

Otherwise, the processor 430 selects one or more targeted advertisementsfrom the advertisement database 310 based on the information gleanedfrom the entry in the intercept database 440. As discussed previously,in one embodiment, a targeted advertisement is selected based on acomparison of its classification to the classification of theunavailable subscriber. At step 522, the targeted advertisement(s) areinserted before, during, and/or after providing directory assistance tothe caller.

At step 524, the processor 430 accesses, either directly or via operatorinput via the operator interface 470, the directory assistance database450, where the directory assistance database can include a number ofdatabases, such as geographical subscriber information databases,specialized telephone information databases, toll-free databases and thelike. For example, in at least one embodiment, the directory assistancedatabase 450 includes the available number database 350 of FIG. 3. Inthis case, the processor 430 can search the available number database350 for one or more entries that have elements in common with theunavailable subscriber associated with the unavailable number. Forexample, the processor 430 can search for a new number of theunavailable subscriber. Likewise, the processor 430 can search foravailable subscribers that have the same or a similar classification andmark such entries.

At step 526, the processor 430 formats some or all of the correspondinginformation associated with the erroneous call into data representativeof a speech sequence and provides the speech data to the voiceprocessing module 420, whereupon the data may be converted intosynthesized speech and played over the telephone system to the caller.Alternatively, the information could be presented to an operator, andthe operator could relay the information to the caller.

Additionally, at the step 526, the DAS 150 could interact with thecaller to further specify the desired information. For example, if theprocessor 430 finds three entries in the directory assistance databasehaving classifications that match exactly the classification of thedialed number, the processor 430, via the voice processor module 420,could query the caller as to which entry the caller would prefer. Thecaller could then reply via the phone, where the caller's audible replyis converted to a digital signal by the voice processing module 420 andprovided to the processor 430 for interpretation. Alternatively, thecaller could interact by pressing keys on the telephone used by thecaller, and the resulting tones or signals could be interpreted by theDAS 150.

Additional at Step 526, the processor 430 formats some or all of thecorresponding information associated with the erroneous call into datarepresentative of a type of device associated with the one or morealternative numbers associated with the caller's number (e.g., voice,facsimile format, text message format, instant message format, etc.).The voice processing module 420 and/or the DAS 150 and sent over thetelephone system to the one or more alternative numbers.

At step 528, the DAS 150, in one embodiment, queries the caller to seeif the information provided was adequate or to discern if additionalassistance is desired. This query can be performed by requesting aninput from the caller, or requesting the caller wait for additionalassistance. If the caller requires additional assistance or information,the caller can be routed to an operator at step 530 for additionalassistance. The operator then can attempt to locate any additionalinformation requested by the caller, and provide the additionalinformation to the caller at step 526. If the information provided isadequate or if the caller terminates the call, the directory assistancecall terminates at step 532, whereupon the circuit between the caller'stelephone and the DAS 150 is made available to other circuits.

It will be appreciated that at least one implementation of the presentinvention results in a decrease in the effort expended by a caller tolocate an intended subscriber or alternate subscriber when an erroneouscall is made. In one embodiment, the service provider implementing thepresent invention can charge the erroneous caller a modest fee inexchange for the directory assistance service and/or some additionalservices. For example, prior to being routed to the DAS 150, the AIS 140could playback a recorded message to the caller informing the callerthat the call is being routed to directory assistance and that a feewill be charged for this service and then prompt the customer with theoption to continue or to disconnect the call. Similarly, the callercould be prompted to choose to listen to one or more advertisements inexchange for the directory assistance, or a combination of advertisingand a fee could be selected by the caller in exchange for directoryassistance.

Cloud Computing

FIG. 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating an exemplary cloudcommunications network 610. However, the present invention is notlimited to this cloud computing model and other cloud computing modelscan also be used to practice the invention. The exemplary cloudcommunications network includes both wired and/or wireless components ofthe PSTN 132.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the wireless interfaces forcloud and non-cloud communications and telephony networks include butare not limited to, an IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.15.4(ZigBee), 802.16a, 802.16g, “Wireless Fidelity” (WiFi), “WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access” (WiMAX), ETSI High PerformanceRadio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN) “RF Home,” or other types ofwireless interfaces. However, the present invention is not limited tosuch wireless interface and other types of wireless interfaces can alsobe used.

This exemplary cloud computing model for intelligent electronicinformation processing promotes availability for shared resources andcomprises: (1) cloud computing essential characteristics; (2) cloudcomputing service models; and (3) cloud computing deployment models.However, the present invention is not limited to this cloud computingmodel and other cloud computing models can also be used to practice theinvention.

The cloud communications network 610 provides on-demand self-service,broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measuredelectronic services for providing electronic advertising services.

The cloud source network device includes a server network device (e.g.,DAS 150 with processor 430, etc.). In another embodiment, the cloudsource network device includes a gateway and/or router and/or switchand/or edge server network device each with one or more processor.

In one embodiment, the cloud source network device 150 and/or the targetnetwork devices 102, 108, 25, 29 include a wireless networking interfacecomprising 4^(th) generation (4G) Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMax) Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless interface incommunications with the cloud communications network 610. However, thepresent invention is not limited to this embodiment and other types ofwireless networking interfaces can be used to practice the invention.

Exemplary cloud computing essential characteristics appear in Table 1.However, the present invention is not limited to these essentialcharacteristics and more, fewer or other characteristics can also beused to practice the invention.

TABLE 1 On-demand electronic advertising and directory assistanceservices. Electronic advertisers and electronic directory assistanceretrievers can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such asserver time and network storage, as needed automatically withoutrequiring human interaction with each network server on the cloudcommunications network 610. Broadband network access. Electronicadvertising and directory assistance capabilities are available overplural broadband communications networks and accessed through standardmechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick clientplatforms 102, 108, 25, 29 (e.g., land line phones, mobile phones, smartphones 25, tablet computers 29, laptops, PDAs, etc.). The broadbandnetwork access includes high speed network access such as 3G and/or 4Gwireless and/or wired and broadband and/or ultra-broad band (e.g.,WiMAX, etc.) network access. Resource pooling. Electronic advertisingand directory assistance computing resources are pooled to servemultiple requesters using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according toElectronic advertising and directory assistance demand. There islocation independence in that an requester of electronic content has nocontrol and/or knowledge over the exact location of the provided by theElectronic advertising and directory assistance resources but may beable to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g.,country, state, or datacenter). Examples of pooled resources includestorage, processing, memory, network bandwidth, virtual server networkdevice and virtual target network devices. Rapid elasticity.Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some casesautomatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quicklyscale for Electronic advertising and directory assistance. To theelectronic content retriever, the electronic content capabilitiesavailable for provisioning appear to be unlimited and can be used in anyquantity at any time. Measured Services. Cloud computing systemsautomatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a meteringcapability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type ofElectronic advertising and directory assistance service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, custom Electronic advertising and directoryassistance applications, etc.). Electronic advertising and directoryassistance usage is monitored, controlled, and reported providingtransparency for both the electronic content provider and the electroniccontent requester of the utilized Electronic advertising and directoryassistance service.

Exemplary cloud computing service models illustrated in FIG. 6 appear inTable 2. However, the present invention is not limited to these servicemodels and more, fewer or other service models can also be used topractice the invention.

TABLE 2 Cloud Computing Software Applications 612 for an ElectronicAdvertising Services (CCSA 614). The capability to use the provider′sapplications running on a cloud infrastructure 616. The cloud computingapplications are accessible from the server network devices 150 fromvarious client target network devices 102, 108, 25, 29 through a thinclient interface such as a web browser plug-in, etc. The user does notmanage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure 616 includingnetwork, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individualapplication capabilities, with the possible exception of limiteduser-specific application configuration settings. Cloud ComputingInfrastructure 616 for the an Electronic advertising and directoryassistance Service (CCI 618). The capability provided to the user is toprovision processing, storage, networks 624, 626, 628, 630, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The user does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure 616 but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls, etc.). Cloud Computing Platform 620for the an Electronic advertising and direc- tory assistance Service(CCP 622). The capability provided to the user to deploy onto the cloudinfrastructure 616 created or acquired applications created usingprogramming languages and tools supported servers 150, etc.. The usernot manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure 616 includingnetwork, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control overthe deployed applications and possibly application hosting environmentconfigurations.

Exemplary cloud computing deployment models appear in Table 3. However,the present invention is not limited to these deployment models andmore, fewer or other deployment models can also be used to practice theinvention.

TABLE 3 Private cloud network 624. The cloud network infrastructure isoperated solely for an Electronic advertising and directory assistanceorganization. It may be managed by the Electronic advertising anddirectory assistance organization or a third party and may exist onpremise or off premise. Community cloud network 626. The cloud networkinfrastructure is shared by several different organizations and supportsa specific Electronic advertising and directory assistance communitythat has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy,compliance considerations, etc.). It may be managed by the differentorganizations or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.Public cloud network 628. The cloud network infrastructure such as theInternet, PSTN 132, CATV, etc. is made available to the general publicor a large industry group and is owned by one or more organizationsselling cloud services. Hybrid cloud network 630. The cloud networkinfrastructure 616 is a composition of two and/or more cloud networks610 (e.g., private 624, community 626, and/or public 628, etc.) and/orother types of public and/or private networks (e.g., intranets, etc.)that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized orproprietary technology that enables data and application portability(e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds, etc.)

Cloud software for electronic advertising and directory assistance takesfull advantage of the cloud paradigm by being service oriented with afocus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semanticinteroperability for electronic advertising and directory assistance.

In on exemplary embodiment, a cloud application 27, offers additionalcloud services. The application 27 is included on the target networkdevices 102, 108, 25, 29. The application 27 offers the cloud computingInfrastructure 616 as a cloud Service (IaaS) 618, including a cloudsoftware service for one or more electronic advertising and directoryassistance services 150, the cloud Platform 620 as a cloud Service 622(PaaS) including a cloud software service for one or more electronicadvertising and directory assistance services 150, and/or offersSpecific cloud software services as a cloud Service (SaaS) including acloud software service for one or more electronic advertising anddirectory assistance services 150. The IaaS, PaaS and SaaS include oneor more of cloud services 612 comprising networking, storage, servernetwork device, virtualization, operating system, middleware, run-time,data and/or application services, or plural combinations thereof, on thecloud communications network 610.

The source and target cloud computing applications 27 include anelectronic advertising and directory assistance service CCSA 614 for theelectronic advertising and directory assistance services 450, 451, 452,453, 454, 455, 456, 457 and 458, a cloud computing platform CCP 620 forthe electronic advertising and directory assistance services 450, 451,452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457 and 458 and a cloud computinginfrastructure CCI 616 for the electronic advertising and directoryassistance services 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457 and 458.However, the present invention is not limited to a cloud computingnetwork 610 and can be practice directly on the PSTN 152.

Wearable Devices

“Wearable technology” and/or “wearable devices” are clothing andaccessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies.Wearable devices provide several advantages including, but not limitedto: (1) Quicker access to notifications. Important and/or summarynotifications are sent to alert a user to view the whole message. (2)Heads-up information. Digital eye wear allows users to display relevantinformation like directions without having to constantly glance down;(3) Always-on Searches. Wearable devices provide always-on, hands-freesearches; and (4) Recorded data and feedback. Wearable devices taketelemetric data recordings and providing useful feedback for users forexercise, health, fitness, etc. activities.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram 634 illustrating wearable network devices. Thewearable devices include one or more processors and include, but are notlimited to, wearable digital glasses 636, clothing 638 (e.g., smart ties638′, etc.), jewelry 640 (e.g., smart rings, smart earrings, etc.)and/or watches 642. The wearable devices are also wearable by animals(e.g., service dogs, pets, show animals, circus animals, etc.). However,the present invention is not limited to such an embodiments and more,fewer and other types of wearable devices can also be used to practicethe invention.

In one embodiment, the wearable network devices 636-642 also include adirectory assistance application 26 with plural software modules. Thedirectory assistance application 26 further includes a cloud application27 used with cloud computing network 610. The plural wearable devices636-642 may also include a plug-in 28 for a browser with plural softwaremodules which communicates with applications 26 and 27. The multiplesoftware modules may be implemented in firmware, hardware or anycombination thereof. In one embodiment, the plural wearable devices636-642 may include a plug-in 28 for a browser with plural softwaremodules. However, the present invention is not limited to such anembodiments and more, fewer and other types of wearable devices can alsobe used to practice the invention.

The one or more wearable network devices 636-642 and one or more servernetwork devices (e.g., 140, 150, etc.) each with one or more processorsmay communicate with each other and other network devices with nearfield communications (NFC) and/or machine-to-machine (M2M)communications.

“Near field communication (NFC)” is a set of standards for smartphonesand similar devices to establish radio communication with each other bytouching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually nomore than a few centimeters. Present and anticipated applicationsinclude contactless transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup ofmore complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is alsopossible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a “tag”including radio frequency identifier (RFID) tags.

NFC standards cover communications protocols and data exchange formats,and are based on existing radio-frequency identification (RFID)standards including ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa. These standards includeISO/IEC 1809 and those defined by the NFC Forum, all of which areincorporated by reference.

“Machine to machine (M2M)” refers to technologies that allow bothwireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices of the sameability. M2M uses a device to capture an event (such as option purchase,etc.), which is relayed through a network (wireless, wired cloud, etc.)to an application (software program), that translates the captured eventinto meaningful information. Such communication was originallyaccomplished by having a remote network of machines relay informationback to a central hub for analysis, which would then be rerouted into asystem like a personal computer.

However, modern M2M communication has expanded beyond a one-to-oneconnection and changed into a system of networks that transmits datamany-to-one and many-to-many to plural different types of devices andappliances. The expansion of IP networks across the world has made itfar easier for M2M communication to take place and has lessened theamount of power and time necessary for information to be communicatedbetween machines.

In one embodiment, a physical location of the one or more location awarewearable network devices 636-642, is determined by Global PositioningSystem (GPS) location information. GPS is a space-based satellitenavigation system that provides location and time information in allweather conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth where there is anunobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

The physical location of the one or more location aware wearable networkdevices 636-642 can also be determined with other location methods suchas a hardware address location (e.g., Media Access Control (MAC)hardware address, etc.), and IP address location, latitude andlongitude, a Cartesian coordinate grid (e.g., a Spherical coordinatesystem, etc.), an ellipsoid-based system (e.g., World Geodetic System),or similar methods, etc.

However, the present invention is not limited to these types of locationinformation and other types of physical location information can be usedto practice the invention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flow diagram illustrating a Method 644 forautomatically routing erroneous calls to a directory assistance service.In FIG. 8A at Step 646, a current physical location of a location awarewearable device with one or more processors and a caller number isdetected. At Step 648, a caller's telephone call is automaticallydetected from the location aware wearable network device to anunavailable number for a business on a telephony network. At Step 650, atelephone call is intercepted on the telephony network to theunavailable number before initiating any action by the telephony networkback to the location aware wearable network device and the caller. Theunavailable number includes non-existent numbers or numbers notimplemented on the telephony network. At Step 652, the detected andintercepted telephone call is automatically routed to an automaticintercept system associated with a directory assistance service. At Step654, the detected and intercepted telephone call is automatically routedfrom the automatic intercept system to the directory assistance service.In FIG. 8B at Step 656, information about the unavailable number andprior calls made from caller's number and the determined physicallocation of the location wearable aware network device is automaticallysearch for from the direct assistance service via one or moreinformation services. At Step 658, additional directory assistanceinformation and advertising information is automatically provided to thelocation wearable aware network device and the caller at the caller'snumber caller and one or more other alternative numbers associated withthe caller's number from the one or more information sources external tothe telephony network and one or more information sources internal tothe telephony network. The directory assistance and advertisinginformation includes information for other businesses within apre-determined distance of the determined physical location of thelocation aware wearable network device.

Method 644 is illustrated with one exemplary embodiment. However, thepresent invention is not limited to such an embodiment and otherembodiments can also be used to practice the invention.

In such an exemplary embodiment, in FIG. 8A at Step 646, a currentphysical location of a location aware wearable device 636-642 with oneor more processors and a caller number 635 (e.g., (100) 555-0003) isautomatically detected.

In one embodiment, the current physical location of the one or morewearable network devices 636-642 is determined with GPS other locationmethods such as a hardware address location (e.g., Media Access Control(MAC) hardware address, etc.), and IP address location, latitude andlongitude, a Cartesian coordinate grid (e.g., a Spherical coordinatesystem, etc.), an ellipsoid-based system (e.g., World Geodetic System),or similar methods, etc. However, the present invention is not limitedto the location information described and other types of physicallocation information can be used to practice the invention.

At Step 648, a caller's 637 telephone call is automatically detected(FIG. 5 a) from the location aware wearable network device 636-642 to anunavailable number (100) 555-0002 (e.g., 104, 639 etc.) for a businesson a telephony network 132.

In one embodiment the telephony network 132 is non-cloud computingnetwork. In another embodiment, the telephone network 132 is a cloudcomputing network 610. However, the present invention is not limited tothe telephony networks described and more, fewer or other types oftelephony networks can be used to practice the invention.

At Step 650, telephone call is intercepted on the telephony network 132to the unavailable number 104, 639 before initiating any action by thetelephony network 132 back to the location aware wearable network device636-642 and the caller 637. The unavailable number 104, 639 includesnon-existent numbers or numbers not implemented on the telephony network132.

At Step 652, the detected and intercepted telephone call isautomatically routed to an automatic intercept system 140 associatedwith a directory assistance service 150.

At Step 654 the detected and intercepted telephone call is automaticallyrouted from the automatic intercept system 140 to the directoryassistance service 150.

In FIG. 8B at Step 656, information about the unavailable number 104,639 and prior calls made from caller 637 number 635 and the determinedphysical location of the location aware wearable network device 636-642is automatically searched for from the direct assistance service 150 viaone or more information services 451-456.

At Step 658, additional directory assistance information and advertisinginformation is automatically provided to the location aware wearablenetwork device 636-642 and the caller at the caller's 637 number caller635 and one or more other alternative numbers associated with thecaller's 637 number 635 from the one or more information sourcesexternal to the telephony network and one or more information sourcesinternal 451-456 to the telephony network 132.

The directory assistance and advertising information includesinformation for other businesses within a pre-determined distance (e.g.,1 mile, etc.) of the determined physical location of the location awarewearable network device 636-642.

For example, a caller 637 may be standing on a street in a city and callfrom his/her location aware wearable network device 636-642 anunavailable number for a pizza restaurant to order a pizza. Method 644would be executed and at Step 658, the directory assistance andadvertising information includes information (e.g., phone number,web-site, directions, electronic coupons, etc.) for other pizzarestaurants within a pre-determined distance (e.g., 0.5 miles, etc.) ofthe determined physical location of the location aware wearable networkdevice 636-642.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a Method 660 for automaticallyrouting erroneous calls to a directory assistance service from alocation aware wearable network device. At Step 662, an unavailablenumber for a business is automatically from the location aware wearablenetwork device. At Step 664, the location aware wearable network deviceautomatically initiates the telephone call to the automatically detectedunavailable number. At Step 666, Method 644 is executed.

Method 644 is illustrated with one exemplary embodiment. However, thepresent invention is not limited to such an embodiment and otherembodiments can also be used to practice the invention.

In such an exemplary embodiment, in FIG. 9 at Step 662, an unavailablenumber 104, 639 for a business (e.g., pizza restaurant, etc.) isautomatically from the location aware wearable network device 636-642.

At Step 664, the location aware wearable network device 636-642automatically initiates the telephone call to the automatically detectedunavailable number 104. 639

At Step 666, Method 644 is executed to automatically provide additionaldirectory assistance information and advertising information to thelocation aware wearable network device 636-642.

In one embodiment, the unavailable number 104 is automaticallydetermined from an outdated sign, a telephone directory, an electronicdirectory on the Internet, a Quick Read (QR) bar code or other bar code,a billboard, etc.

In one embodiment, the unavailable number 104 is automaticallydetermined with a QR reader or other bar code reader application, anOptical Character Recognition (OCR) application, and/or otherrecognition application, etc. 26/27/28, etc. on the location awarewearable network device 636-642.

The method and system described herein provides directory assistance andadvertising to location aware wearable network device 636-642 when sucha device calls an unavailable number.

It should be understood that the architecture, programs, processes,methods and systems described herein are not related or limited to anyparticular type of computer or network system (hardware or software),unless indicated otherwise. Various types of general purpose orspecialized computer systems may be used with or perform operations inaccordance with the teachings described herein.

In view of the wide variety of embodiments to which the principles ofthe present invention can be applied, it should be understood that theillustrated embodiments are exemplary only, and should not be taken aslimiting the scope of the present invention. For example, the steps ofthe flow diagrams may be taken in sequences other than those described,and more or fewer elements may be used in the block diagrams.

While various elements of the preferred embodiments have been describedas being implemented in software, in other embodiments hardware orfirmware implementations may alternatively be used, and vice-versa.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the term“means” in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6,and any claim without the word “means” is not so intended.

Therefore, all embodiments that come within the scope and spirit of thefollowing claims and equivalents thereto are claimed as the invention.

I claim:
 1. A system for deriving information associated with anunavailable telephone number or subscriber number and providing saidinformation to a caller attempting to place a telephone call to saidunavailable telephone number or subscriber number, the system comprisingin combination: a location aware wearable network device with one ormore processors, wherein the location ware wearable network device iscapable of automatically determining its current physical location; anintercept system coupled to a directory assistance service, wherein theintercept system intercepts the telephone call made by the locationaware wearable network device, on a telephony network to the unavailablenumber before initiating any action by the telephony network back to thecaller, wherein the unavailable number includes non-existent numbers ornumbers not implemented on the telephony network; the directoryassistance service, wherein the directory assistance and at least oneadvertisement are selected based on previously collected callerinformation and a determined physical location of the location awarewearable network device; and the one or more information servicescoupled to the directory assistance service, wherein the directassistance service uses the one or more information services to searchfor information about the unavailable number and the caller's number toprovide additional information and advertising to the caller at thecaller's number and one or more other alternative numbers associatedwith the caller's number from the one or more information sourcesexternal to the telephony network, one or more information sourcesinternal to the telephony network and the determined physical locationof the location aware wearable network device.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the intercept system coupled to the directory assistance servicecomprises: for intercepting the telephone call made to the unavailabletelephone number; for routing the telephone call to the directoryassistance service; and for providing at least one advertisement to thecaller a the caller's number and one or more alternative numbersassociated with the caller's number.
 3. The system of claim 1, whereinthe one or more alternative numbers associated with the caller's numberinclude an alternative voice number, facsimile number, mobile phonenumber, electronic table number, text messaging identifier, instantmessaging identifier or a social media identifier.
 4. The system ofclaim 1, wherein a plurality of the one or more information servicesresides within the intercept system and wherein each of the one or moreinformation services is selected from the group consisting of: a) abusiness subscriber information service coupled to the directoryassistance system; b) a white page database service coupled to thedirectory assistance system; c) a yellow pages database service coupledto the directory assistance system; d) a business intelligence databaseservice coupled to the directory assistance system; e) a rule-basedexpert system service coupled to the directory assistance service; f) anInternet search service coupled to the directory assistance system; andg) an alternative number database service coupled to the directoryassistance system.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the interceptsystem is further coupled to one or more additional database servicesselected from the group consisting of: a) a business subscriberinformation service; b) a white page database service; c) a yellow pagesdatabase service; d) a business intelligence database service; e) arule-based expert system service; f) an Internet search service; and g)an alternative number database service.
 6. The system of claim 5,wherein the directory assistance service is coupled to the one or moreadditional database services and wherein a plurality of the one or moreadditional database services includes information derived from atelephone number.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the informationderived from a telephone number comprises: listing name; listingaddress; listing geographic location; listing business category; listingcall frequency; one or more alternative numbers for the caller's number.8. The system of claim 1, wherein the directory assistance servicecontains entries for businesses are located by business location andbusiness category.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the entries forbusinesses are located by business location and business categoryinclude businesses accepting referrals offered to callers attempting toplace a telephone call to an unavailable business telephone number. 10.The system of claim 9, wherein the businesses accepting referralsoffered to callers attempting to place a telephone call to anunavailable business telephone number comprise businesses paying forreceiving said referrals.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein theentries for businesses able to be located by business location andbusiness category represent businesses represented by the caller'sbusiness telephone number.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein thetelephony network is a cloud computing network comprising one or moreone or more public communication networks, one or more private networks,one or more community networks and one or more hybrid networks.
 13. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein cloud computing network offers a cloudcomputing Infrastructure as a cloud Service (IaaS), a cloud computingPlatform, as a cloud Service (PaaS) or offers Specific cloud electronicdirectory assistance and advertising services as a cloud Service (SaaS)including a cloud software service, wherein the IaaS, PaaS and SaaSinclude one or more of electronic advertising and directory assistanceservices comprising networking, storage, server network device,virtualization, operating system, middleware, run-time, data orapplication services, or plural combinations thereof, on the cloudcomputing network.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the location awarewearable network device includes wearable bracelets, clothing, fitnesstrackers, health trackers, glasses, jewelry and watches.
 15. The methodof claim 1 wherein the physical location of the location aware wearablenetwork device is determined with Global Positioning System (GPS)location information, latitude and longitude information, Cartesiancoordinate grid information, ellipsoid coordinate grid information,hardware address location information or Internet Protocol (IP) addresslocation of the location aware wearable network device.
 16. A method forderiving information associated with an unavailable telephone number orsubscriber number and providing said information to a caller attemptingto place a telephone call to said unavailable telephone number orsubscriber number, comprising the steps of: automatically detecting acaller's telephone call from a location aware wearable network devicewith one or more processors, at a physical location determined by thelocation aware wearable network device, to an unavailable number on atelephony network; automatically intercepting the telephone call on thetelephony network to the unavailable number before initiating any actionby the telephony network back to the caller using the location awarewearable network device, wherein the unavailable number includesnon-existent numbers or numbers not implemented on the telephonynetwork; automatically routing the detected and intercepted telephonecall to an automatic intercept system associated with a directoryassistance service; automatically routing the detected and interceptedtelephone call from the automatic intercept system to the directoryassistance service; automatically providing directory assistance to thecaller at the location aware wearable network device at a caller'stelephone number and one or more mother other alternative telephonenumbers; automatically determining information associated with theunavailable telephone number; automatically determining directoryassistance information associated with the determined physical locationof the location aware wearable network device; and automaticallyproviding directory assistance and advertising information associatedwith the unavailable telephone subscriber to the location aware wearablenetwork device, wherein the directory assistance is selected based onreferral fees paid by advertisers and other service providers and thedetermined physical location of the location ware wearable networkdevice.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the telephony network is acloud computing network comprising one or more one or more publiccommunication networks, one or more private networks, one or morecommunity networks and one or more hybrid networks, wherein cloudcomputing network offers a cloud computing Infrastructure as a cloudService (IaaS), a cloud computing Platform, as a cloud Service (PaaS) oroffers Specific cloud electronic directory assistance and advertisingservices as a cloud Service (SaaS) including a cloud software service,wherein the IaaS, PaaS and SaaS include one or more of electronicadvertising and directory assistance services comprising networking,storage, server network device, virtualization, operating system,middleware, run-time, data or application services, or pluralcombinations thereof, on the cloud computing network.
 18. The method ofclaim 16 wherein the one or more alternative numbers associated with thecaller's number include an alternative voice number, facsimile number,one or more mobile phone numbers, electronic table number, textmessaging identifier, instant messaging identifier, a social mediaidentifier, a “Wireless Fidelity” (WiFi) identifier or a “WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access” (WiMAX) identifier.
 19. A methodor deriving information associated with an unavailable telephone numberor subscriber: automatically detecting a physical location of a locationaware wearable device with one or more processors; automaticallydetecting a caller's telephone call with a caller number from thelocation aware wearable network device to an unavailable number for abusiness on a telephony network; automatically intercepting thetelephone call on the telephony network to the unavailable number beforeinitiating any action by the telephony network back to the locationaware wearable network device and the caller, wherein the unavailablenumber includes non-existent numbers or numbers not implemented on thetelephony network; automatically routing the detected and interceptedtelephone call to an automatic intercept system associated with adirectory assistance service; automatically routing the detected andintercepted telephone call from the automatic intercept system to thedirectory assistance service; automatically searching for informationabout the unavailable number and prior calls made from caller number andthe determined physical location of the location aware wearable networkdevice from the direct assistance service via one or more informationservices; automatically providing additional directory assistanceinformation and advertising information to the location aware wearablenetwork device and the caller at the caller number caller and one ormore other alternative numbers associated with the caller number fromthe one or more information sources external to the telephony networkand one or more information sources internal to the telephony network,wherein the directory assistance and advertising information includesinformation for other businesses within a pre-determined distance of thedetermined physical location of the location aware wearable networkdevice.
 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising: automaticallydetecting the unavailable number for the business from the locationaware wearable network device; and automatically initiating from thelocation aware wearable network device the telephone call to theautomatically detected unavailable number.